Monday, December 15, 2014

Skylar Gudasz - Car Song 7inch

Skylar Gudasz's 7inch single for her original track "Car Song," backed with a dynamic performance of Big Star's "Dream Lover" is definitely our favorite 7inch of 2014. I'll never forget being in School Kids Records in Raleigh NC with my friend Eric Swedlund, oo'ing and ah'ing over the simplistic beauty of the cover artwork. He grabbed a copy of the record just because of its excellent documentation of great North Carolina musicianship; as a reminder of his visit to our wonderfully talented state.

Rich, deep red ink - one color - laid upon a stark white cardboard jacket; proper with spine and all. Impressive for a 7inch, especially in that it includes an insert for liner notes. This release was quite possibly an expensive project for Daniel 13 Records to manufacture, but well worth the scratch, considering the heavy hitters Gudasz invites to join her on these tracks: Mitch Easter, Chris Stamey, and Josh Moore, just to name a few.

William Schaff's iconic monotone illustration of two cockatiel parakeets calls to you immediately. If you buy this 7inch in a record store, be sure to wash your hands when you get home; I promise you everyone that walked by Gudasz's record picked it up to admire Schaff's work a bit closer - it is stunning. The delicate, yet deliberately unadulterated cover art truly compliments Gudasz's own musical delivery to perfection.

And as much as I am a sucker for colored vinyl and I did anticipate pulling out a beautiful opaque red vinyl for this release, I was so happy to see that Skylar Gudasz and Daniel 13 Records held their restraint and pressed these tracks on black wax; staying true to the refined packaging. With credits printed on the side-a label, and our parakeets reappearing on side-b, the design overall simply could not be more sublime.

Skylar Gudasz's "Car Song" 7inch is a must have for any vinyl collector.